Muscles of the human posterior hip, or gluteal muscles, are critical for the task of locomotion. Healthy and/or well-developed gluteal muscles are a key factor in maintaining the strength and health of a person's lower back, hips and knees. Conversely, unhealthy and/or under-developed gluteal muscles have been identified as a significant cause of a number of conditions, including patellar alignment problems, iliotibial (IT) band pathology, and mechanical lower back pain.
An exercise technique referred to as a “gluteal bridge,” which is also commonly referred to as a “glute bridge” or “hip thrust,” has been developed to strengthen gluteal muscles. The gluteal bridge is a complex movement because it requires the person to perform multiple movements in a specific sequence. The gluteal bridge is typically performed when a person, user or individual is in the supine position on the ground or on a mat where the person's the hips and knees are flexed while the lower back is pressed flat on the ground. The person then performs a pelvic tilt, whereby the pelvis is moved or “rolled” toward the posterior and the lower back flattens. With the pelvic tilt engaged, the person then raises his or her buttocks and shifts weight to the feet and an area of the upper thorax located at the inferior aspect of the person's scapulae. When properly performing the gluteal bridge exercise, the person moves only at the hips, without bending the spine. Also, when a person performs the gluteal bridge in this manner, it is commonly referred to as an “unresisted” exercise since no external resistance is being applied during the complex movement.
As an individual becomes proficient at the basic gluteal bridge, the gluteal muscles become stronger. Various forms of resistance may be added to the gluteal bridge movement to increase the load on the gluteal muscles and other muscles. Safely increasing the load on the gluteal muscles is an important step in building overall muscular strength, endurance, power and girth. When resistance, e.g, in the form of an elastically deformable band, or some form of weight resistance such as a barbell, weight plate or dumbbell is applied to the exercise it is referred to as a “resisted gluteal bridge.”
Past attempts to provide a resisted gluteal bridge include the use of additional devices, such as stretching a strongly-resistive elastic resistance band across a lower portion of a person's abdomen, along with contorting the person's knees to a severe angle to position the pelvis low enough to properly affix the elastic resistance band. Some attempts require the person to maneuver between a seat and a lower leg pad prior to initiating the exercise, creating dangers to the person, especially when he or she becomes fatigued. Other attempts require the person to press against a bare metal bar, typically while adding some form of an external pad, with their abdomen and contort their body to slide under the bar before initiating the gluteal bridge exercise. Further attempts require the use of hand-held free weights and a free-standing bench, presenting issues pertaining to the stability, strength and sliding resistance of the bench along a ground surface. Still further attempts rely on the compromised directional stability and support of an exercise ball. Even further attempts rely on the use of a smith machine, which creates a movement pathway that forces the user to move in an undesired vertical path (i.e., straight up and down) motion rather than a proper curvilinear path. The use of these additional devices to perform a resisted gluteal bridge causes numerous problems that reduce the effectiveness of the exercise while exposing the person trying to perform the exercise to potential injury. For example, these conventional resisted gluteal bridge exercises do not properly support the lumbar spine throughout the exercise's range of motion. Accordingly, these conventional exercises force the lumbar spine into a position of hyperextension, particularly at an end range of motion of the exercise which places significant pressure on a user's facet joints. This pressure is undesirable because it is a noted cause of lower back pain. Additionally, these conventional resisted gluteal bridge exercises do not allow the user to perform a resisted gluteal bridge with only one leg at a time, or a resisted gluteal bridge with alternating legs because the weight shifts in an uncontrolled and manner across the user's pelvis, which may cause the user to fall or become injured.
Accordingly, there has been a long-standing, unmet need for an exercise apparatus specifically designed to allow a person to properly perform a resisted gluteal bridge to improve the strength of a person's human posterior hip and gluteal muscles.